Innovation Strategy
Turning visions into reality
At Coats, we are restless pioneers, disrupting the textile industry for over 250 years. From the thread in Edison’s light bulb to the parachute on the Mars Rover, we’ve made today’s most popular products possible. Innovation lies in our DNA and we continue our work towards a better, safer, more sustainable future.
We partner with customers around the globe to look further and dream bigger, exploring bold new ideas for the clothes we wear, the composite materials making our cars more efficient, and the communication equipment that keeps us connected.
In our three Innovation Hubs (US, Turkey, China), we invite our customers to take advantage of our dedicated teams and facilities, and together tackle the most crucial problems they face.
Innovation is something we embrace across every area of our business
At Coats, we are known for our high-quality products. We set the global standards in product development and are using cutting-edge technology to drive advances that seemed unthinkable just a few years ago. Yet, we are striving to take our products to the next level, making them even more functional, more sustainable, by creating lighter, more efficient, responsibly-sourced materials.
Using new composite materials and manufacturing techniques, we are pushing the boundaries of our activewear industry, taking athletes to new heights in both fashion and performance.
Coats EcoVerde range is a 100% recycled, premium polyester thread that will replace all our premium polyester threads by 2024. We are also taking the Eco range further by using sustainably sourced wood pulp, hemp or soy bean to make our products fully biodegradable.
Across our personal protection lines, we are working to keep our heroes not just safe, but comfortable, whether they are fighting flames with our flame-retardant thread or invisible viruses with the antiviral, antibacterial HeiQ Viroblock technology (jacket). Through light-weighting we make the automotive world faster and more efficient and our materials make telecoms equipment more durable than ever.
With Coats Digital, we have combined our decades of expertise into software solutions that allow our customers to reduce complexity and make their processes more effective.
Our goal is to cut complexity and improve efficiency, so we can focus on the things that truly matter in the most sustainable way.
Our digital capabilities are a huge asset when it comes to process-optimisation and we use machine learning and artificial intelligence to measure, optimise and streamline the things we do. As part of our ‘factory of the future’ roadmap we are enhancing manufacturing automation, with a state-of-the-art pilot in one of our facilities in China. We create processes such as our global Colour Lab network and Coats Colour Express, the world’s fastest, most colour-accurate sampling facility for industrial sewing thread.
With our dedicated teams and facilities, we continuously evolve in our approach to creativity, helping our customers create without limits. We frequently review our processes to reduce waste working collaboratively with our partners to find sustainable solutions. We create new ways of manufacturing and find new blends of materials, taking us a step further towards true sustainability.
Our people are our most valuable asset. Curious by nature. Constantly striving to innovate and look beyond the scope of our industry. They are our problem solvers, our innovators, and we want them to perform at their best. This requires us to not only train and facilitate them, but they need to have the space and time it takes to be creative. That’s why at Coats, we have dedicated teams who only focus on finding and solving the right customer problems.
